Schwarzenegger blames judges for California's budget woes

After railing against labor unions, waste and fraud in the past, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday found a new target to blame for California's budget woes: judges who "are going absolutely crazy."

As pieces of the July state budget solution begin to unravel, the Republican governor said judges — especially on the federal level — are preventing California from solving its problems.

He complained in particular about judicial actions that have struck down some state worker furloughs, required reductions in the prison population, imposed restrictions on water delivery in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and this week blocked cuts to in-home care services.

"They are going absolutely crazy," Schwarzenegger said of judges. "So we have to have a very serious conversation with the federal government, because they have to let us run the state."

"Whenever they agree with me, they're right, very simple," Schwarzenegger said wryly when told they sometimes rule in his favor. "When they don't agree with me, they're wrong and they're interfering with our governing of the state."

State fiscal reports through September show the state has collected $1.1 billion less in tax revenue than was anticipated. Previous internal estimates also assumed the state would enter 2010-11 with a $7.4 billion deficit, on top of the $1.1 billion just reported.